B-2 Tourist Visa

The most popular visa is the B-2 Tourist Visa. More than three quarters of all foreigners enter on a tourist visa. B-2 Tourist Visa allows an foreign resident to visit the US temporarily as a tourist. The alien must have the intent to return to your home country after your visit is over. Usually, you are required to have a home abroad to which you intend to return. Anyone who wishes to travel to the US as a visitor is eligible to apply for a visitor’s visa at a US consulate. You must be physically present to apply there.
 
The B-2 Tourist may not engage in business-related activities at all. A condition of being admitted on a B-2 visa is that you are in fact a tourist. Tourists are given stays of six months. Theoretically, you may leave the US at the end of the six months, return the next day and be readmitted for another six months. Alternatively, when the six months are up, you can apply for an extension of stay without leaving,usually for another six months. However, when your travel history show
that you are spending most of your time in the US, INS will assume you have the intent to be more than just a temporary visitor. On this basis, you can be denied entry altogether, even though you do have a valid visa. Some people, thinking that they have found a loophole in the system, try to live in the US permanently on a visitor’s visa by merely taking brief trips outside the country every six months. Do not expect this tactic to work for very long.
 
Although you are not allowed to work on the tourist visa, you may “change status” to an employment visa (such as H-1B) or “adjust status” to an employment-based green card. However, the applicant must be cautious that he may be open to a charge of having committed fraud or material misrepresentation in getting their tourist visa. An allegation of fraud can severely impact your chances of winning permanent residence (i.e., green card).